Light Music of Pakistan

LIGHT MUSIC

GEET

Chronologically speaking, thegeet,
also known as thenaghma(song
and lyric), is the youngest of the musical genres except for pop music.
Muslim poets and lyricists contributed substantially toward its development
and maturation. The purpose of the geet is to increase the impact of a given
situation in a film and to accentuate the emotional effect of melodrama.
Film music is flooded with geets, which are now an inseparable part of
filmmaking in the subcontinent.

Ageetis
a short poem of three or four stanzas. It is created primarily to reflect
different moods as required by different dramatic situations. Ageetcan
be witty, sarcastic, sardonic, or melancholic ,the range is endless. The
effectiveness of ageetincreases
when it is set to tune by a sensitive musician. As a musical genre, thegeetfalls
into three easily discernible categories:raga-based,
folk-based, or pop-based. Occasionally, ageetmixes
these styles. Creative composers who developedgeetcomposition
into a fine art include Master Ghulam Haider, Khurshid Anwar, and Feroze
Nizami.

The
popularity of ageetdepends
largely upon its skillful rendition by a vocalist. During the past fifty
years or so, many great vocalists have lent their voices to geets composed
for film, radio, or television. Prominent among them have been Noor
Jehan, Zubeda Khanum, Mala, Masud Rana, Mahnaz, Nayyara Noor, and Nahid
Akhtar in Pakistan. New electronic musical instruments are adding new tonal
coloration to the geet, which keeps changing in response to musical
innovations.

GHAZAL

As
a literary form, the Urdughazal,
a continuation of the Persianghazalin
a new setting, has enjoyed great popularity over the past two hundred years.
Its musical evolution, however, is a comparatively recent phenomenon.

Tracing the history of the melodic evolution of the ghazal is an uphill task
when so few recorded examples of its earlier varieties are available.
However, with the advent of the gramophone, theghazalbegan
to emerge as a distinct and vibrant musical genre, and there is recorded
evidence to vouch for its traditional purity. Judging from early recordings,
it can be safely assumed that theghazalwas
influenced by thedhurpad,
kheyal,andthumristyles
during the embryonic stage of its development.

During the Mughal period and the British Raj, ghazal singing was considered
only an adjunct to light music. It had limited appeal and it did not occupy
a high place in the musical hierarchy. At that time, its scope was
restricted within the confines of a metrical system expressly tailored for
poetical expression and not suitable for musical elaboration. In
pre-independence days, a large number of talented and innovative vocalists
made conscious efforts to reshape the contours ofghazalsinging
in such a way as to allow sufficient room to accommodate some
characteristics of thethumriandtappaforms
with ease. During this period,ghazalsinging
became the pride of many celebrated classical vocalists. The leading lights
among the exponents of this modified version of the ghazal were Gohar Jan,
Shamshad Bai of Agra, and Pyare Sahib.

The
new style deeply appealed to listeners, and many other vocalists created a
name for themselves by adopting it, including Barkat Ali Khan, Muhammad
Hussain Nagina, Akhtari Bai Faizabadi, and Bhai Chhela. In the early 1940s
Saigol, Malika Pukhraj, Kamla Jharia and several other vocalists developed
song-accentedghazalswhich
became extremely popular Among the pioneering composers of the song-accentedghazal,
Anil Biswas can easily be singled out. His first experiment with this style
in film"Pehli Nazar"
became an instant hit. The song, based on the rudiments of Raag Darbari,
became the true representative of a newly emerging style of ghazal singing.

With the gradual shift to heavily orchestrated and western-oriented
composition in film music, and the induction of modern electronic
instruments into movie orchestras,ghazalsinging
began to absorb the new influences of opulent orchestration.

Today, theghazalremains
one of the most popular forms of music. It has benefitted tremendously both
from past traditions and from the rich contributions made by contemporary
exponents such as Ghulam Ali, Mehdi Hassan, Farida Khanum, and Iqbal Bano.

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